San Francisco 49ers' Alex Boone (75) and Joe Staley watch the field after the NFL football NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, in Seattle. The Seahawks won 23-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVIII. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) less

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Boone (75) and Joe Staley watch the field after the NFL football NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, in Seattle. The Seahawks won 23-17 to ... more

Is the magical kingdom created by Jim Harbaugh, founded on a code of mutual love and manly respect and brotherhood, coming apart? Or is this merely a routine maintenance issue, like a squeaky drawbridge?

Vernon Davis is holding out from minicamp. So is offensive lineman Alex Boone, and that rankles Harbaugh, too, but I'm guessing Boone registers lower on the coach's rankle-meter.

Vernon Inc. - as I now think of Davis - has gone rogue. With two seasons left on the contract that makes him the third-richest tight end in the league, Davis is feeling underpaid and is on a crusade to protect and build what he calls his "brand."

Holdouts happen, but with the Harbaugh 49ers we're in virgin territory, and the virgin coach is not happy. Tuesday he said he is upset with the holdouts because "it's not the 49ers' way."

Wednesday I asked Harbaugh to elaborate. Did he object to the two players being absent, or to the way his tight end was presenting his case to the public?

Harbaugh declined to elaborate.

"As I said yesterday," he said, "I'll reiterate that I was disappointed in the decision not to come to the minicamp. I didn't call anybody out."

Another news outlet referred to Harbaugh "calling out" the holdouts.

A couple follow-up questions by two other writers caused Harbaugh to bristle.

"To answer the three, four, five follow-up questions, it gets to be badgering," Harbaugh said. "It gets old. I covered it thoroughly yesterday, and I don't feel like there's anything more to say about it at this time."

Since I led off the questioning, technically what I did was pre-badger.

I have no problem with Harbaugh declining to elaborate on his comment. He much prefers to discuss the players who are in camp, the progress being made with the guys who are working hard and fulfilling their contracts.

But just because the coach wants to dismiss the issue doesn't mean the rest of us have to, and it's an important issue.

This is the first holdout(s) of Harbaugh's NFL coaching life, and it's really the first time he has detoured from his own code of never publicly speaking negatively of a 49er.

Harbaugh is on a tightrope. He has instilled a strong team-first mentality, and if he were to excuse the holdouts, or deny his displeasure, he would be selling out the guys who are in camp and working hard. But if he comes down too hard on the holdouts, in a league where every man fights to be paid what he's worth, Harbaugh is flirting with taking management's side against labor.

Thus, perhaps, his bristling at the use of "calling out."

I'm guessing that this is what's steaming Harbaugh about Vernon Inc.'s holdout:

The timing makes it look like Vernon Inc. is reacting to Colin Kaepernick's fat new contract. But Kaepernick's contract, most experts agree, is extraordinarily team-friendly and gives the 49ers flexibility to take care of other guys.

Compounding Harbaugh's rankle (guessing again) is Vernon Inc.'s media blitz. He seems bent on enlisting public sympathy through charm, having appeared on several radio and TV shows.

On one radio interview, Vernon Inc. said he is not only building and protecting his "brand," but that he will encourage teammates to do the same. Which to Harbaugh might sound like inciting sabotage.

"Building your brand" might be the smart way to go if you listen to your marketing and management people, but I would guess that most fans and most of Vernon Inc.'s teammates don't care about his brand. They want to see his behind in uniform, in camp.

And that will happen soon, guaranteed. Here's why: Davis accepted $4 million from a company called Fantex in return for 10 percent of his future earnings from football salary and endorsements.

So while the Fantex folks might be prodding Vernon Inc. to wheedle more money out of the 49ers, Fantex will not be cool with him missing any real games. In fact, as my badgering colleague Eric Branch tweeted, if Vernon Inc. were to hold out long enough to miss actual games, Fantex would claim Vernon Inc. owes the company 10 percent of the money he would have earned had he not held out.

Still, Vernon Inc. continues his tour, on which he is also pimping products he endorses, like beef jerky.

"I got your beef jerky right here," Harbaugh must be muttering to himself.

Vernon Inc. is a very valuable 49er, maybe the most valuable offensive player other than Kaepernick. But in taking his case public, Vernon Inc. might be overestimating his charm.

I walked past Vernon Inc.'s locker Wednesday and saw a note: "Your helmet needs to be fitted by 5/23. Please come by the EQ room and try on your helmet."